This is the final post in the series about my journey that basically gets me to the present time. It is also a very important piece of my journey. As I finished up last time, I had just spoke at friend’s funeral in October. That, just like the other things I have posted about, just drew me closer to God. It gave me more confidence as a Christian and I was able to help a dear friend. It made me believe that I could do anything if I just trusted God with what I was doing.
Now fast forward to April. I get a text from a friend of mine, Matt. He is a fellow coach and a guy I have known since high school. There was a period of time when I didn’t really see or talk to him for years because of different career paths. But, in the last few years we had been coaching in the same area and had talked more than we had in years. Maybe that wasn’t just a coincidence. What Matt text me would have a huge impact on my life. He asked me if I would be interested in helping with a sports ministry camp in the summer. I didn’t really know any details about the camp, but was definitely interested. A couple of days later he called me and gave me some more details. He didn’t know all the details because it was the first year that the camp was going to be held, but it sounded really good. I had helped run different Christian based things before and had ran baseball camps before, but never together. That’s what was so intriguing. He told me the camp was going to be called Epic. There was a lady named Shelley that had a vision and he trusted her vision and he wanted me to be a part of it.
I talked to my wife about it and the more I talked about it and the more I thought about it the more excited and interested I became. I mean, how often do you get to combine a sport you love with a Savior you love? I never had in this way before. This was a unique opportunity. This was different than anything I had ever heard of before. This felt like an awesome, or Epic, opportunity. But the more I found out about the camp and what all had to take place to make this thing work, the more I had my doubts about it taking place in 3 months. That’s right, it was 3 months away and we had just started the planning stages for the baseball portion of it. Not only was there baseball, but several sports as well. Shelley had ran a rodeo camp for several years now and it was a huge success. So no one had any doubt that this would work out too. There were just a lot of things that had to happen in a short amount of time. I couldn’t wait to get to have an impact on so many young people by combining two of the things I loved the most!!!
As the time got closer, things started falling together. There are a lot of stories that can only be explained by God having a hand in it as preparations intensified. The people that would not only help with baseball, but the other sports as well started falling into place. The camp was to be held at Oklahoma State University. That was a huge deal as well that a major university like that would open up its campus to a christian based program like Epic. Due to the nature of this event and what it stood for, it wasn’t even difficult for me to put away my Crimson and Cream for a few days. I won’t go as far as to say that I put on that bright orange, but I had nothing but respect for OSU for opening their campus up to us.
I prayed for the success of this camp for 3 months. To keep my thoughts simple, it would either go good or it wouldn’t. But, I just prayed that it would be good. I prayed that the people that Matt had put together to help with the baseball would all mesh together well and that it would be a huge success. I also prayed for all the other sports as well and that they would have the same success. I prayed for Shelley too. I completely understood where she was coming from. She felt led by God to do this. She listened as he guided her to do this and took a leap of faith that she was going to be able to put the right team together to make this a success.
The time for camp finally arrived. The baseball crew was amazing. We met the night before camp began and when we did I felt completely at peace with the men that Matt had assembled. We had a group of men that not only knew baseball and loved it, but more importantly knew and loved God. I knew this was going to be a blast. But, that didn’t change the fact that when registration began the next morning and a lot of campers began showing up, that we weren’t all a little nervous. We weren’t nervous about what we were doing. We all felt confident in that. But, being the introductory year for the camp, we wanted it to be a success. We wanted to help all of these kids spiritually as well at athletically. We also wanted this to be a camp that them, as well as others, wanted to attend in the future.
I must say that what I experienced that week was not exactly what I thought. It wasn’t exactly what I had hoped. It was a lot more, in a lot of ways that I never expected. Here is a quick run down of how each day went. The campers began camp at 8:30. They worked on skills in their particular sport until 11:30. Then for about the next 30 minutes one of the coaches spoke to the kids that were there for their sport. I spoke to the baseball guys the first day. The next two days two of the other coaches spoke to them (more on that later in the post). Then the campers went to lunch. Following that they went to speed and agility training. Then they went to some mental classes that focused on mental toughness and the mental approach to sports. Then from 4:30 to 5:30 we had worship with all the campers.
Now, I said it wasn’t exactly what I expected. The activities throughout the day were what I expected because I knew the schedule prior to camp starting. But, what I didn’t expect was the impact that this camp would have on me. I went into it excited about what this camp would do for so many kids, but I had no idea what this camp would do for me. It was amazing. I was so uplifted throughout this week. That’s what was so crazy. The campers were supposed to be the ones that were uplifted and changed. I think all the other coaches can probably say the same thing. It was so uplifting to be around that many Christians every day. Everyone that was there had a love of sports and a love of Christ that bonded each other together. I was absolutely amazed at what God did during that week. The Holy Spirit no doubt filled that theatre every night during worship. It was powerful. At the end of each service the coaches went to the front and any campers that wanted to pray with any of the coaches could come forward, and they did. In fact, I was impressed there were so many players that came forward to be prayed with. We were blessed with great speakers. They touched the hearts of so many coaches and campers alike. I was blown away by the response of the campers as well as the parents. On the last night we had parents in tears and thanking the staff for how it had changed their children as they walked out with their campers. I would say Shelley’s vision was a success!
I talked about coaches speaking to the campers at the end of each day. The last day one of the coaches spoke and it was something that I will never forget. I can’t speak for everyone else there, but it spoke to me. It has been on my mind ever since, and that was 3 months ago. He spoke to the campers about peer pressures that they face every day. But, as he went along he spoke about having passion as a Christian. He quoted a verse and talked about it and that is what has stayed with me more than anything. He quoted Revelation 3:15-16 in which Jesus says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other. So, because you are lukewarm -neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. I had heard that before, but WOW, it stuck with me for some reason that day. I guess probably because I was at a different part of my journey than ever before. Like I have talked about in my other post, I spent years being “lukewarm”. That is so scary to me. I am so thankful for God’s grace and mercy. Since I heard that scripture that day, I have been even more motivated to not ever go back to being that type of Christian again!
After I came home from this camp I did a lot of self reflecting and wondering what I could do to be better. I wanted to continue to have an impact on people. Not just 3 days a year during this camp, but every day. This week drew me closer to God. There were so many things at this camp that had an impact on me. I don’t have time to go into all those in this post, but it helped guide me to what I am doing today. It had an impact on me starting this blog. I wanted to do more. I wanted to do something that would be uplifting to people. I wanted to do something that would help further God’s Kingdom. I prayed to God every single day after this camp to show me what that looked like. I prayed that he would lead me where he wanted me to go. Seeing Shelley’s vision and how she followed what God wanted her to do inspired me to follow God’s vision for me as well. She chased a dream she had and it helped me to branch out and chase one of my own. As I said before, I have wanted to write for along time. This whole experience helped me with the passion Coach Boone spoke of that day. It made me want to do everything I could to bring others to Christ. It also helped me to have more courage and realize that dreams are just that unless we are brave enough to chase them!!!
My hope is that anyone that has a dream will have the courage to chase it. I also hope that anyone who is “lukewarm” like I was for so long will be that no longer. I pray they will find the passion Coach Boone spoke of and be on fire for Christ and not worry about what anyone else thinks of them. I pray they will do anything they can to help others and will live every day motivated to make the world a better place. I love quotes and use them all them time. But one of my favorites is by Brandi Snyder which says, “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world”. I love that quote for so many reasons. I try to think of that each day and realize that we don’t ever know who all is watching us. But just know that someone is. We might just be the person that gives them courage or confidence or changes their world!!!
